GM Majority Affinity Group at AMA Conference July 2024.pdf

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1. Nazma Noor- DigitalStrategist at Cog Design
Simone Kelly -Marketing & Communications Manager at Metal
We Have
Work To Do
AMA Global Majority
Affinity Group

2. Introduction& breathing exercise1
What is an ally? Open discussion2
Examplesof goodpractice4
Case studies – what would you do?3
5
Session
plan
Closing poem5

3. Breathing
exercise
Led by Bea Udeh, Head of
Diversity at AMA

4. Sophie Williams, Anti Racist Ally (2020)
•Equalities Act 2010
•Protected characteristics -
includingrace
•Showing up& showing support
even if you're not from that
protected characteristic
Whatis an ally?

5. Sophie Williams, Anti Racist Ally (2020)
Not being racist isn’t allyship.
But being actively anti-racist,
fighting for a cause that you
really believe in?That’s more
like it.
Be an anti-racist ally.
Whatis an ally?

6. Being an ally is being actively antiracist,
building one’s cultural competence every
day/week/month &opening one’s eyes
What is an ally?
Clive Lyttle, Artistic Director of Certain Blacks

7. Thinklike an ally
Let's explore some of the ways racism
shows up in the workplace & can
impact your team, the business &
global majority members of staff
If you're not an ally, you are a bystander

8. 5
Think like anally- whatcould you do?
Careless pronunciation:
someone getting your
name or the global
majority member of staff’s
name wrong repeatedly

9. “A person’s name is the greatest connection to
their own identity &individuality. Some might
say it is the most important word in the world
to that person… It is a sign of courtesy… When
someone remembers our name after meeting
us, we feel respected & more important.”
Joyce E. A. Russell an organisational psychologist and leadership expert

10. 5
Suggestions:
•Ask how to pronounce & actively listen
•Never shorten names without asking
•Apologise if you get it wrong
•Correct others
Think like anally- whatcould you do?

11. 5
Mistaken identity:
always assuming the
most senior person in
the room is white
Think like anally- whatcould you do?

12. 5
Suggestions:
•Recognise thisis a microaggression& racial bias
•Never assume that people don't belong
•Ask & actively listen, or look it up in the company directory
•Recognise that this can make global majority people feel less
worthy & valued
Think like anally- whatcould you do?

13. 5
Not listening: Allowing
white voices to dominate
the conversation &not
listening to global majority
people
Think like anally- whatcould you do?

14. 5
Suggestion:
•Think about who speaks the most in meetings
•Set rules such as, ‘no one speaks twice until everyone
has spoken once’
•Steer the discussion back to global majority staff if they
are interrupted
Think like anally- whatcould you do?

15. Making these small changes
can have a massive impact,
leading to more productivity,
better staff wellbeing &
happiness.

16. The most diverse companies
are now more likely than
ever to outperform less
diverse peers on profitability
McKinsey Report 2020 -Diversity wins: How inclusion matters
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters

17. Consider:
Participating in regular AMA EDI training
Supporting global majority staff with pathways to network
Offering counselling& support spaces to global majority
staff after experiencing racism in the workplace

18. Case Studies:
What would you do?

19. 5
Situation/Issue
A colleague attended a national Diversity Conference online. At the end
of one of the keynote talks a participant presenting as a white/global
minority woman remarked in the Q&A that she was loving the event, it
was not what she was expecting but she didn't think that the useful
outcomes and insights would have much impact in her organisation as
her boss had signed her up to attend as a tick-box exercise. A white male
colleague responded that he was sure that her boss did not mean it in
that way. He then went on to talk about something else, which switched
'down' the conversation.

20. 5
Situation/Issue
•A colleague attended online national diversity conference
•In the Q&A.a white/global minority woman said she was loving the
event,but it wasn't what she was expecting
•She didn't think the useful outcomes & insights would have impact in
her organisation as she'd beensigned her up as a tick-box exercise
•A white male colleague saidhe was sure her boss didn't mean it in
that way
•He then spoke about something else, which switched 'down' the
conversation

21. 5
In small groups, let's discuss
What is happening here?
Is there a term for this behaviour?
What is harmful about his response?
Think of a time you might have experienced this
with a colleague/organisation?

22. 5
Think like an ally
Using 'I' terms/language e.g. "I'm sorry that this
happened to you. As a leader in another
organisation, I do x, y, z"
Recognising that racism is not a label, it is an action
that intentionally keeps the needle from moving.
What could you do next time to be supportive allies?

23. Good Practice:
WalkThePlank'sDEIJourney

24. Good Practice:
WalkThePlank'sDEIJourney
•AMA Breakthrough programme
•Internal& external comms
•Adding anti-racism statement to
website to be held accountable
•Ensuring freelancers are credited

25. Good Practice:
WalkThePlank'sDEIJourney
•Knowledge sharingamong wider
team& freelancers
•Gratitude box &showing
appreciation for each other
•It's a journey not a race

26. Poem:
Intention
Written and readby
Simone Kelly

27. Poem:
Intention
Written and readby
Simone Kelly
They ask
‘How have you managed to survive?’,
As though we had a choice,
any other choice,
but to pave the way.
To curl tightly our toes around the rungs of the ladders that
were thrown to us
and clamber.
Scurry, without a second thought,
knowing that if they thought for too long,
if they sat with the discomfort for too long,
they’d drag the floor from beneath our feet.
In constant survival mode,
equipped with ancestral coping mechanisms,
but no generational healing ones.

28. Poem:
Intention
Written and readby
Simone Kelly
We survive
intentionally.
Speak intentionally and wrap intention around everything,
for fear of being questioned, challenged and told we don’t
belong.
Told that we have overstepped, told that we must know our
place.
We didn’t ‘only get that job because…’
We got that job because we coated ourselves in our intention,
joined the conversation and made our voices heard.

29. Poem:
Intention
Written and readby
Simone Kelly
We didn’t just end up here,
we chose to be here, to stay here.
Facilitating progression in organisations who closed doors in
our faces,
and never once thought to defend the few specks of colour in all
white spaces.
But in spite of that, we chose to be here,
we still choose to be here.
Because we can’t keep passing the baton and backfooting
along the way,
we can’t keep restarting the process.
We can’t live through that cycle again.

30. Poem:
Intention
Written and readby
Simone Kelly
So, we refuse to tiptoe around cycles our ancestors fought
through,
and we refuse to let these be the same cycles our children must
wade through.
We refused then and we rebel now.

31. Show up,
stand up,
support
•AMA's Culture Hive:
https://www.culturehive.co.uk/
•E-signature tools:https://name.pn/pages/about
&https://cloud.name-coach.com/
•RaceEquality Matters:
https://www.raceequalitymatters.com/my-
name-is/
•AMAGlobal MajorityAffinityGroup(quarterly)

32. Show up,
stand up,
support
•Walk The Plank:
https://www.walktheplank.co.uk/how-we-do-it/
•Barbican
Stories:https://www.barbicanstories.com/
•AMAwrap-around EDI learning &
development:Inclusivity& AudiencesDay,
Historical Context in Race webinars,
Breakthrough, Reaching New AudiencesDay

33. Any questions?
Contact: Bea Udeh – Head of Diversity at AMA
[email protected]